Comments on: 18 ways to increase combat duration

By: Brad

Brad — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 03:05:19 +0000

One of my most memorable “long” encounters was with a party around level 5 or so. Basically we were in a cave type dungeon of some sort. Long story short, we eventually wound up fighting an endless horde of zombies. Through certain contexts and clues alluding to limitless magical undead making stuff, we quickly realized that it was -literally- endless and had to escape. We fought through a more manageable group of zombies during our escape, all the while being chased by the endless group. We eventually came to a clearing where there were some boats and a couple of the main-line fighters held off the horde long enough to get away. Oh, and then a dragon showed up.

By: Fishercatt

Fishercatt — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 14:36:20 +0000

There has been talk here of changing the environment or changing the enemies. Here’s a trick I used once that worked out really well: I gave the enemy the spell “Death Stop Shade”. It was a one-time use item, but it was basically a cloud that floated over an enemy’s head (think of a cartoon thundercloud over an angry Donald Duck). Anyone within the shade simply could not die. The cloud got smaller each round, and once the enemy’s legs had fallen off he could no longer fight with his hands because he was dragging his not-yet-corpse around to stay under the shrinking cloud. It was a bit gruesome, but fun, and allowed the PC’s to goof off a bit during a serious fight.

By: Bobo

Bobo — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:28:56 +0000

When they fight a high level creature have it call out very loudly and attract more creatures to fight and also when they fight like insects there could be a colony of them near by.

By: .o.

.o. — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:45:14 +0000

The WotC article says that the typical monster has an average lifespan of 5 rounds. This is primarily a byproduct of 3.x ed. D&D’s emphasis on a single monster (or just a few monsters) in an encounter. So another solution could be, switch to a different system!

I would caveat that a lot of the suggested ways to increase a combat’s duration could very easily be Not Fun. I have both played through and GMed several of these methods and generally found that more rounds = diminishment of climax. But if the battle lasts long enough, the sense of satisfaction increases. Tricky balance.

I would say the key to any increased battle duration is to not let it grind into an “I roll… You roll…” cycle. It’s really hard for the GM to sustain excitement after you’ve described for the 20th time how the drow soldier has missed your character… The best way to prevent the grind was nailed by niggle: change the environment.

A variety of ways to do this:

1) give the PCs a reason to move. Maybe one of the combatants is attempting to flee with a needed object – the PCs should pursue into a new area with new tactical considerations.

2) have the environment change on them. Niggle’s mechanical/magical mayhem room is a great idea. Is the room sinking? Caving in? Is it some sort of factory with conveyor belts and moving cranes? Slow-flowing lava rolling towards them?

3) give the PCs ways to change the environment. Opening/closing a portcullis, creating barricades or cave-ins, severing a rope bridge, etc.

I recently ran a game where the party invaded an ogre lair. The game could have very easily just been a grind of wave after wave of ogres. And it was. Except I gave the party lots of chances to change the environment by withdrawing and pursing to new areas, creating barricades and a cave-in, and then the ogres tried to smoke them out. Hundreds of dice rolls over and over against the same basic monsters for hours on end, but it turned out to be a pretty fun game instead of a drag.

By: Know It All DM

Know It All DM — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:37:22 +0000

A 16th level Ninja with a +45 Hide, +50 Move Silently and a 47 AC… With a Short Bow. Attack, Hide with -20 = 1d20+25… He he he, now they wish they’d put ranks in spot.

By: Dungeon Mastering » Monday morning speedlinking - combat edition

Dungeon Mastering » Monday morning speedlinking - combat edition — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 05:32:55 +0000

[...] A while back I wrote this article: 18 ways to increase combat duration. [...]

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 22:37:38 +0000

I don’t increase the hp during the battle as such, but I usually roll them using the same rules PCs use = max at first and reroll any ones. The monsters should have the same advantages as the PCs.

And we rarely fight plain monsters anymore – I like to add PC classes. A monk kobold is much more interesting.

By: Infamous Jum

Infamous Jum — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:22:27 +0000

I increase the HP of monster mid-combat all the time. As long as my players aren’t near-death all it provides is a little more time in combat, which I know they enjoy more than walking around in the dark. Its something you have to judge moment-to-moment; if they have a really great idea to kill something, and it actually works, then don’t steal that from them. However, if they’re just stabbing it as hard as they can over and over again, then I have no problems with pumping it up a little.

Otherwise, just pit them against a giant mob of easy to kill goons and let them chop away. Combine that with a goal (get to the bomb before it goes off, kill the boss behind all the goons, etc) to keep them motivated. Works for me!

By: Yax

Yax — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 18:31:16 +0000

40 rounds! Maybe it was too evil. I’m sure your players had fun. They just don’t ever want to do that again. There’s a nuance there.

By: Ted

Ted — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 16:13:02 +0000

I had one combat last about 40 rounds, but that was considered so universally evil by my group I’ve never done it since. Essentially they were inside a mine when an enemy army came after them, and they began to retreat when more of the enemy came at them from the other side. They got stuck on a hill with enemies above and below, and artillery from an airship everywhere. Ultimately, they had to run at the forces below to draw the airship’s fire, then back away quickly and use the explosives to blow a hole in the enemy lines. I enjoyed it, but… they didn’t have a whole lot of fun.